Mindful of the tragedy that befell the Titanic, yet eager to live out the heady excitement felt by passengers on the maiden voyage of what was then the world’s most modern ocean liner, 750 friends of Denver Museum of Nature & Science hastened aboard for Museum After Dark: A Voyage on the Titanic.
The benefit chaired by Mary Pat Link and her husband, John Strohm, included an after-dinner viewing of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition and the auction of a watch made with rusted steel and coal recovered from the Titanic. It was donated by Oster Jewelers, and owner Jeremy Oster described the timepiece as “the most exciting watch on the market this year.”
Many of the guests came in period clothing and while there were plenty of bustles, gloves and hats, Dr. Bruce Paton was the most practical. He wore a bright orange life vest.
All of the food served — from the cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres to the dessert buffet set out after dinner in the museum’s South Atrium — was based on menus from the ship’s first class dining room.
The party’s proceeds go to museum-sponsored science programs for school-age children. Microsoft was the Presenting Sponsor.
Dinner was served in various diorama galleries. In North American Wildlife, for example, museum trustee Pamela Beardsley and her husband, George, were in the company of such as Ed and Hope Connors, Bridget Fisher, Mary Gaylord, Harry Lewis and Scott and Wendy Menefee.
Botswana was the “destination” for Oliver Hickel, also a museum trustee, and his wife, Lindsay; Meg Church; Robin and Patrick Jobe; Terry and David Appel; Barbara Bridges; and Reuben Cuneo, a paleobotanist from Argentina who is in the United States on a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Others enjoying this land-locked cruise were Sue Anschutz-Rodgers; Nancy Leprino Henry and David Henry; Leslie and Jack Ferguson; UMB Bank’s Mariner Kemper and his wife, Megan; Gordon and Sally Rippey; Buz and Sherri Koelbel; Tony and Nancy Accetta with her mom, Erna Butler; Jill DiPasquale; decor chairs Becky Stevens and Jeni Stevens; Tim Ryan, who purchased the African safari offered in the live auction; Cynthia and Philippe Dunoyer; Dr. Julika Ambrose; Carol and Graham Phipps; Barbara and Dan Berv; Jane and Merrill Yale; Heidi and Bruce Hoyt; Monta Lee Dakin and Steve Friesen; Mercedes and Sergio Gutierrez; Margie and Dave Hunter; Deanna and Greg Austin; and museum president George Sparks with his wife, Karyn.

Pictures from Museum After Dark can be viewed at denverpost.com/seengallery

Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com.

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Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.